Tiger Mountain - Iverson Railroad Trail to Middle Tiger Trail - 9.5 miles

It's Monday. Back to the grind... but WAIT, what's this? I looked outside. It was a picture perfect day. I have lots of vacation, so I headed home at 8 and was on the trail by 9:30.

I decided to walk the Iverson Railroad Trail. This is a moderately easy trail with a few ups and downs, but nothing extreme. The following map shows the route I took today.

My route: Iverson Railroad Trail to Middle Tiger to Tiger Mountain Trail and back.

Start of the Iverson Railroad Trail

The Iverson Railroad Trail is about 1.8 miles long and goes through beautiful second-growth forest. There are several bridges over the larger streams, and it was very pretty in the filtered sunlight.

I am standing on one of the wooden bridges. Very pretty in the filtered sunlight

The trail comes out onto the West Tiger Road. I saw the trail the last time I walked on Tiger Mountain, but the trail doesn't have a sign where it meets the road. Now I know what trail it is, and where it goes!

I followed the West Tiger Road about two miles. There is one intersection where the West Tiger Road is not marked. One branch heads up hill; the other heads down. The West Tiger Road heads DOWN. Fortunately, I chose the correct road. I came to the Middle Tiger Trail and headed up. After a very short distance, the trail branches. I was tempted to take the Hobart Middle Tiger Railroad trail, because the sign gave the distance to the site of the curved trestle. It sounded very interesting.

Instead, I took the Middle Tiger Trail, which runs for one mile and then meets the Tiger Mountain Trail. I should have learned my lesson from the last time I took the Middle Tiger Trail. One mile means, "one mile straight up". This one really worked my leg muscles. It took most of an hour to make it to the top.

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 At one of my frequent stops on the way up, I did manage to capture some of the pretty trees in the sunlight.

On the way up the Middle Tiger Trail. Very pretty trees in the sunlight.

I was tempted to take the Hobart-Middle Tiger Trail to check out the "site of the curved trestle".

Not sure what these flowers are, but they were very pretty. Again, a picture taken at one of my many rest stops.

The trail goes like this for one mile. It doesn't look steep, but it is relentless.

 At the top, the trail joins the Tiger Mountain Trail. I took a break, took off my socks and shoes and ate a Snickers bar. While I was there, another gentleman came up the Tiger Mountain Trail (TMT) and we talked for a bit. He had a GPS unit and a map. I told him that the Middle Tiger Trail went down to the road and up to the top of the hill. He seemed confused, but since he had a map I presume he finally decided which trail he was going to take.

Junction of the Middle Tiger Trail and the Tiger Mountain Trail. I rested here to eat and re-hydrate.

I took the Tiger Mountain Trail back, since this was the same trail that I hiked a few days ago. There were lots of pretty white flowers along the trail.

Pretty white flowers along the Tiger Mountain Trail.

As I headed back along the Iverson Railroad Trail, a little chipmunk posed for a picture. The red-eye makes the little guy look evil.

Chipmunk stopped long enough for me to get a picture.

I would recommend this hike to anyone wanting a good mix of easy, moderate and strenuous trails. Round trip is about 9.5 miles, which took me about four hours, including about a half-hour break for lunch.